In wake of Charlottesville, Wilmington rallies in Rockford Park

Wilmington residents and concerned citizens from as far as Maryland gathered beneath Rockford Tower to stand in solidarity with Charlottesville against racism and fascism.
Jerry Habraken / The News Journal

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Wilmington residents and concerned citizens from as far as Maryland gathered beneath Rockford Tower to stand in solidarity with Charlottesville against racism and fascism.(Photo: Jerry Habraken, The News Journal)Buy Photo

Incensed and seeking release, Wilmington residents gathered Sunday evening in Rockford Park as a show of solidarity against fascism and racism.

The rally was one of many occurring across the county in response to the violent images seeping out of Charlottesville, Virginia, where a right-wing rally brought pictures of swastikas and Nazi salutes onto TV screens nationwide — and where an act of terrorism left one woman dead.

At least 100 congregated underneath Rockford Tower around 6 p.m. They came with friends and family, with signs calling for unity and denouncing hate.

One man perched a U.S. flag on his shoulder. Many more lit candles. Songs were sung.

The event was organized by local chapters of Indivisible, a nationwide network which opposes the Donald Trump administration.

"We all are very concerned about what we knew was coming and what has in fact come," said Lucy Comstock-Gay, with Indivisible Highlands and Beyond. "Tonight, people are gathered to show solidarity with our brave friends in Charlottesville, Virginia, based on what happened yesterday, and to stand squarely in opposition to hatred and white supremacy."

White nationalists, militias, and right-wing groups marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend. The rally was called "Unite the Right."

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Sen. Chris Coons speaks at a rally beneath Rockford Tower to stand in solidarity with Charlottesville against racism and fascism.(Photo: Jerry Habraken, The News Journal)

At the core of their confederation, the ongoing civil tension surrounding the removal of statues venerating the Civil War's rebel leaders, specifically the bronze equestrian Robert E. Lee in the city's Emancipation Park — once Lee Park.

Some marchers carried Nazi and Confederate flags. Jason Kessler, who organized the rally and doesn't consider himself a white supremacist, told CNN Sunday the event was focused on preserving history, allowing whites to self-advocate and free speech.

Also in attendance, counter protesters. Those included AntiFa, a loose network which mobilizes against forces they consider to have pro-fascist tendencies.

AntiFa and Black Lives Matter often receive the brunt of the blame from right-leaning Americans when such events — often political rallies — become violent.

Each side is quick to accuse the other of coming with intent to fight. And so with speeches and shouting, fists and weapons, two sides of America clashed over the weekend.

People fly into the air as a vehicle drives into a group of protesters demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va.(Photo: Ryan M. Kelly, The Daily Progress via AP)

It turned deadly Saturday, police say, because James Alex Fields Jr. rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters. His social media habits and personal history revealed in the news since are decidedly pro-white nationalism.

The 20-year-old Ohioan is charged with injuring 19 and killing one.

That one was 32-year-old Heather Heyer, a Charlottesville paralegal protesting the rally. Two Virginia state troopers — Lt. H. Jay Cullen and Trooper Berke M.M. Bates — died in a helicopter crash while monitoring the mayhem.

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Wilmington residents and concerned citizens from as far as Maryland gathered beneath Rockford Tower to stand in solidarity with Charlottesville against racism and fascism.(Photo: Jerry Habraken, The News Journal)

The people standing in Rockford Park Sunday represented different groups and faiths, colors and political affiliations. Some had nothing to add about politics.

"I wanted to stand in solidarity and support with love and peace and inclusion. When hatred shows itself the way it did in Charlottesville, and here I'm particularly thinking of death and destruction, we have to be visual and vocal about love and peace," said the Rev. Brad Hinton, pastor St. David's Episcopal Church in Wilmington.

He said the rally was, "exactly what I expected, what I hoped for and what we need."

Sen. Chris Coon was one of the first to speak and despaired of the ideology on display in Charlottesville, but he told the crowd to take heart that the march there was relatively small and the beliefs of those in attendance are widely rejected.

"If that's all they can muster from our entire country, then I'll take it," Coons said. "Let's take some courage in that."

Mac Gardener, a Wilmington resident attending the Rockford rally, said he was pleased but surprised by the size of the crowd.

"We were happy to see there was a rally here in Wilmington," Gardener said. "We want to support those people who were injured, especially those in critical condition and the woman who was killed."

Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki spoke as well, the 71-year-old remembering the violence and fear in American during his formative days. He mocked the idea of Americans with Nazi ideals but said it's not something to be ignored.

"Yeah, they may be the clown car but every one of them was carrying long guns and a president who didn't renounce it. That's so deeply disturbing to me," Purzycki said. "There will always be more hatred simmering below the surface than we're aware of, but it's there."

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Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki speaks at a rally beneath Rockford Tower to stand in solidarity with Charlottesville against racism and fascism.(Photo: Jerry Habraken, The News Journal)

Now a Wilmington resident, Keith Van Yahres grew up in Charlottesville, where his father was mayor in the early 1970s. He, too, was moved to speak Sunday.

"It just saddens me to see this in my hometown," Van Yahres said. "I can't tell you how saddened, or why Charlottesville — a most progressive town, a most liberal town, a most accepting town — had this happen."

Youth Caucus of America Inc., a nonpartisan nonprofit youth advocacy organization, had members taking part in Charlottesville demonstrations this weekend. Their chief executive officer, Delaware resident Coby Owens, spoke at the park gathering.

"When we were having this discussion last night and the night before, a lot of us put all politics aside. It has nothing to do with if you're blue or red, black or white," Owens said. "We come from all different backgrounds and we were all able to come together and see that what happened, what they were protesting, was not what we want to stand up for."